A Man and His Dogs: An Adwords Story

Google Adwords, or pay-per-click advertising, is a powerful tool to help your business get found on Google search engine results pages. In a world where every business and blogger is fighting for the top spot, it can seem like an endless cycle of writing keyword-rich content with the hopes of ranking on the first page. With everyone in the same room trying to scream the loudest, there are ways to skip the line and find customers search for products and services just like yours. For your sake of time, we will only cover the initial set up of your Google Adwords account, how to select keywords, and build your ads. Let’s get started.

Does Adwords replace my content efforts?

No, Google Adwords is not built to replace your traditional efforts but acts more like a supplement. With paid advertising presence on Google search and display networks, you can bid to place on the top spot when users are searching. But first, familiarize yourself with the Adwords essentials before jumping in blind.

How do I create my Google Adwords account?

The first step in your Adwords journey is to set up your client account. Since you will be managing your own business account you will need to visit the Google Adwords homepage to get started. Google does a beautiful job at streamlining a simple step-by-step process to get you ready for your first Adwords campaign. Once you’ve completed your account set up, it’s time to start planning.

How do I start a campaign?

Campaign planning is the most important step in creating a success with Google Adwords. If you go in blind and start creating campaigns with no idea of what keywords you are trying to drive, you will end up with low-performing, low-ranking Adwords campaigns with potentially high costs.

Let’s look at an example.

Bill owns a pet shop in Indianapolis that specializes in French bulldogs, pugs, and English bulldogs. Bill wants to up new business and knows that the market for these breeds can be very lucrative. He learned that Google Adwords can help him show up on the first page (if set up correctly) as a paid advertiser.

Keywords

Bill sits down to figure out what keywords are relative to his area and his breeds. Bill uses the keyword planner tool to help locate top-searched keywords in Indianapolis over the past 12-month period. Once he gathers his keywords he must determine what type of match he wants to use.

Exact match will trigger when they match the searched phrase exactly in the exact word order. Ex: [french bulldog breeder]

Phrase match will trigger when the searched phrase contains the exact phrase in the exact word order but can have words appearing before or after the exact phrase. Ex: “best french bulldog breeder”

Modified broad match will trigger when the search contains words used in the phrase regardless of order. Ex: +breeder +indianapolis +french +bulldog

Broad match will be trigger when the search is similar to keywords/phrase used. This match has the broadest reach, can be expensive, and can attract the wrong crowd. Ex: are french bulldog breeders bad

Ad Groups

Using the keywords that Bill found, he can break down his Adwords campaign into small Ad Groups that will allow him to test and manage his campaigns efficiently. When using ad groups in Google Adwords, Bill groups keywords by breed, i.e. Frenchies, pugs, and English bulldogs. Why? Similar keywords grouped together will allow you maximize your campaigns, potentially lower your CPC, and have a better quality score.

Text Ads

Once Bill groups his keywords into ad groups he can begin writing the ad copy. This is one of the most important areas for Bill. Adwords text ads are comprised of:

Headline One (30)

Headline Two (30)

Description (80)

Display URL

Path (2) (15 each)

This serves as the face of your Adwords campaign and business. In order for Bill’s Adwords campaign to be successful, he will want to write enticing, keyword-rich copy that will attract his customers. Once Bill has the copy, he will need to point the URL to a landing page that is relevant to the message in the ad. Ex. french bulldog keywords ads will take users to a page specifically about French bulldogs.

Let’s look at some samples.

Bad Bill:Bill didn’t use his French bulldogs keyword in the copy or destination URL. His text is poorly written and is not formatted for Adwords. The outcome will result in a poor ad-ranking that will probably never show for his keyword.

Better Bill: Bill used the keywords and pointed the ad to the correct landing page while using decent call-to-action. This will result in an average-to-good ad-ranking that can compete with others for the top spots.

Now that Bill has his campaign mapped out and the text ads are written, he can publish his campaign and watch the clicks roll in.

Performance Management

If you are able to successfully follow Bill, you will be well on your way to monitoring and adjusting the performance. However, this is usually where time becomes an issue. Adwords can become very involved and very granular. As a novice Adwords manager, you will find that there are tweaks, best practices, and endless articles providing pointers on how to manage your Adwords campaign. Through trial and error you can find your way to success, but keep in mind that you will need to determine how valuable your time is and how much of that time you can devote to monitoring your campaign.